Nice batch, especially since my #3 (I think, my list is buried), Dave Sim is on! I think this is one of the first issues with Gerhard, who came on with issue 65 or 66. If it’s not a Ger issue, it’s one of the last without him.

Re: Gerhard: were there many/any votes for Gerhard separately, and did you fold those votes into Dave’s votes, or keep them separate? And did many people vote the way (I believe) I did, for the Dave ‘n’ Ger art team?

And interesting note, Marshall Rogers and Dave Sim collaborated on a short story once (the Cerebus “Diamondback” story, iirc).

A Dodson page with a woman with big breasts on it? No!!!

That Grell art is pretty sweet.

And Murphy’s stuff is looking good. Give him a few more years and a high profile assignment (next Bat-Family “event”, maybe?), and he’ll be in the top 20 in a few years. (Not that I WANT him in a Bat event, just that that’s what it’ll probably take to get him enough notice in more readers’ eyes.)

I don’t wanna be a nitpick but I think you meant “artists” not “writers” at the beginning.

And that bunch is really impressive… one of the most memorables Batmen for me is the Marshall Rogers’.

I don’t generally like cheesecake artists… unless they are really, really good.

Dodson is really, really good.

Also, Sean Murphy. Yes.

If I had something like 30 votes to give, Sim would have been one of them (esp. with Gerhard)…Grell is nice too and others I am less familiar with but the samples look good.
What’s this, #115-111? Better stretch than some of the five-artist groups in actual top 50…

Small correction, Brian: you’re referring to writers in the first few sentences.

Wow, very nice group. Really like Rogers and Grell. Wasn’t familiar with Dodson, but
I really like the artwork poster for him. Good stuff.

Nice batch, especially since my #3 (I think, my list is buried), Dave Sim is on! I think this is one of the first issues with Gerhard, who came on with issue 65 or 66. If it’s not a Ger issue, it’s one of the last without him.

Re: Gerhard: were there many/any votes for Gerhard separately, and did you fold those votes into Dave’s votes, or keep them separate? And did many people vote the way (I believe) I did, for the Dave ‘n’ Ger art team?

I believe I used one of the last pre-Gerhard issues, specifically because most of the votes just said “Sim.” Gerhard got some votes of his own. And there certainly were some Sim/Gerhard votes other than you. I would have gone with whatever the majority said – if the majority of Sim’s votes came as “Sim/Gerhard,” I would have gone with that as its own listing.

I’m one of the Gerhard votes, IIRC.

I’d have gone for one of the Jaka scenes in High Society for Dave, though, because his strength was, once he’d matured as an artist, in his human characters. Although we might end up seeing those scenes later in the month on the writer side…

The Cerebus page is from issue 65, I’m sure it’s Gerhard’s background.
64 was the last pre-Gerhard issue.

And Gerhard was my #1. His background work in Cerebus was one of the greatest inspiration for my art, although I have a very different style.

While not disagreeing with you, Peter, it’s interesting that Gerhard isn’t credited in #65. That’s why I (I guess mistakingly) thought it was still pre-Gerhard.

so on the one hand i thin this list is a little ridiculous because how can you rank an artist. but i also love seeing all the different works and it reminds me of people i have forgotten. so keep ‘em coming.

how can you rank an artist

You have people vote for their favorites and then compile a list based on their votes.

Rogers, Grell, Sim, and Dodson are all certainly worthy of showing up on this list. Specifically Grell and Rogers seem a bit low- I think they’re both hurt from not really having worked on anything that moved a lot of copies on the trade market. For many people, Rogers is probably the definitive Batman artist.

Don’t know who Sean Murphy is, but I really like that sample page. It strikes me as being very similar to early Mark Buckingham, prior to his working with Bachalo. What’s it from?

I think Gerhard was officially credited from issue 86. His name was on the first page of issue 66 but it wasn’t there again until issue 70.

Sim was in the top ten that I submitted (can’t remember the order); after all, being a misogynistic psycho doesn’t make his art ugly (just his opinions).

“Don’t know who Sean Murphy is, but I really like that sample page. It strikes me as being very similar to early Mark Buckingham, prior to his working with Bachalo. What’s it from?”

Pretty sure that is from “Joe the Barbarian.”

The story does very little for me, but the art is absolutely fantastic. A perfect blend of charm and technical precision.

Sean Gordon Murphy is one of the absolute best cartoonists in the industry and his lack of resounding acclaim is a testament to the ills of comic fandom.

As I recall, the first Ger issue is a story entitled “Anything Done for the First Time Unleashes a Demon”, and that’s issue 65. Coincidental, but when Dave looked back on it, it seemed fitting. Man, the GCD doesn’t have a lot of info on Cerebus, huh? I’m such a nerd that I knew just from what’s on the page that this was one of the first Ger issues. But since Cerebus IS my favorite comic ever, I should know it well.

Issue 36 probably would have been a nice “pure Sim” look.

What’s fascinating is how the Sim/Gerhard team worked. I found an old Wizard where Ger did the Drawing Board feature on backgrounds, and there was a page from Guys. Dave did JUST the human figures, as shown in the piece. My first reaction was “Dave doesn’t even draw the rice cakes that the characters are holding?” Dave did all the figure work, fully pencilled and inked, then gave the page to Ger to put in all the backgrounds. And the rice cakes.

And as someone else said, this batch of 5 is really good.

I don’t understand how Terry Dodson is so low on the list. He may be less than prolific, but he’s an absolutely outstanding artist, and draws some of the hottest women in the business, up there with Frank Cho, Adam Hughes, Khari Evans and Gilbert Hernandez.

I was one of the 3 who put mashall rogers at number 1, and i’m amazed he wasn’t at least a hundred places higher than this, considering he was the artist on one of the definitive runs on the world’s most popular superhero

@Gavin: gotta agree with you. I’m just now perusing the list and there are some big names slotting in pretty low.

Personally, I really like Mike Grell’s GL so I was bummed to see him this low. Roger’s work is good, not top 10 but certainly not in the second 100. Ditto for Dodson who should be in the top 50 at least IMHO. I think the voting is skewed because a lot of artists get creative control and turn some folks off with their character direction.